The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) has been active in the field of intellectual property since 1997, amongst others, through its Programme on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and Sustainable Development. One central objective of the Programme has been to facilitate the emergence of a critical mass of well informed stakeholders in developing countries inclu...

this paper examines the relationship between environmental law and intellectual property law in light of international documents and procedures. the key question raised here is the role of intellectual property law in conservation of global environment. in this regard, we can express two general approaches: the neutral theory of intellectual property right and the systemic theory of intellectua...

This article provides a brief overview of the Property-Rights Theory of the firm, pioneered by Grossman and Hart (1986) and Hart and Moore (1990), and situates the theory in other literatures.

This paper explores the contradictions inherent in one of the more popular buzzwords of today: sustainable development. I argue that despite claims of a paradigm shift, the sustainable development paradigm is based on an economistic, not ecological rationality. Discourses of sustainable development embody a view of nature specified by modern economic thought. One consequence of this discourse i...